In the modern-day era, so many Christians have been brainwashed to believe that tithing simply means to give ten percent of their monthly salary or whatever they are earning at a given time to their pastors, but as we are going to see in this religious discourse, the principles of tithing oppose that in its entirety.
Originally, tithing used to be ten percent of all the farm and animal produce of the Israelites and it was given in two phases, the first phase was given yearly and the second phase was given monthly. And these phases in essence became the principles of tithing in the Bible.
So before you take ten percent of your monthly salary or any other earnings to your pastor, make sure you read this religious discourse with all amount of understanding. And without any further ado, let’s get started with it.
The principles of tithing in the Bible.
The 2 principles of tithing in the Bible are found in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 and they are:
- Every year the worshippers are to eat their tithes in the presence of the Lord their God.
- At the end of every three years, the worshippers are to pay their tithes to Levites, foreigners, fatherless, and widows who are living in their town.
Below is the scripture about the rules of tithes in its entirety:
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.
But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drinks, or anything you wish.
Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Now let’s move on from here to see the key points in tithing based on the scripture we have seen above.
The secret power of tithing.
The secret power of tithing is to enable us to learn how to give a percentage of what God has given to us back to him. And in this case, it is only ten percent which means that we are the ones who end up getting the lion’s share.
In Genesis 2:8 we discover that God was the one who planted the Garden of Eden and Adam ad Eve were to just live there and eat whatever they wanted except the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden.
But after the disobedience, God pursued them out of the garden and cursed the ground to bring out thorns and thistles for them while they eat the plants of the fields. Therefore, human beings are now required to appreciate God by giving Him just ten percent of what they were getting from the fields and livestock as food.
From Deuteronomy 14:22-29, we can discover that tithing used to be a tenth of all that the Jewish fields and animals produced every year; that is a tenth of the yearly farm and livestock produce.
And according to the scriptures, the Jews were to take this tenth of the farm and livestock produce to the temple; where they would eat with their families.
As the scripture further reveals, if the location of the temple is far and they find it difficult to transport the tithes; the Jews were to sell the produce, and when they get to the temple use the money to buy the same things they sold.
And there eat it with their families in the presence of the Lord.
In Numbers 18:30-32, we also discover that tithes were the wages of the work done by the Levites in the temple.
And according to the bible, they were to eat it with their families.
When you read Numbers 18:1-7, you will discover the duties of the priests and Levites in the Jewish temple.
And when you read Numbers 18:21-24, you will see how God gave the share of the tithes to the Levites for doing the work of assisting the priest in the temple.
Aside from what the fields (farm) produce each year; tithes were also a tenth of animals that were used for meat.
Let’s get proof from the next bible verse below:
“‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.
Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it.
Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord.
No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’”
These are the commands the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai for the Israelites. Leviticus 27:30-34.
